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Medical Author:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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Tick bites are generally painless. Many people may not even notice the bite and may never find the tick if it falls off. Small ticks, like the deer tick that transmits Lyme disease, are so tiny they may be nearly undetectable. Some ticks are about as small as the period at the end of this sentence. However, there are some symptoms that may occur that can be directly related to the tick itself; they are due to the tick bite. Occasionally, a neurotoxin (a substance that is toxic to nerves) secreted at the time of attachment to make the bite unnoticeable to humans and other hosts can cause muscle weakness or paralysis. It rarely causes paralysis that inhibits breathing. The simple task of removing the tick stops any further neurotoxin production, and the person usually recovers quickly and completely. The actual bite may cause symptoms only after the tick drops off. However, some people may notice local redness, itching, burning, and rarely, localized intense pain (soft ticks) before or after the tick drops off. The majority of tick bites result in few, if any, immediate symptoms.

The results of the illnesses transmitted by ticks often begin days to weeks after the tick is gone. That's why doctors or affected individuals may not suspect a tick-related illness because many people ignore or forget about barely noticeable "bites." The most important clue about any tick-related illness is to tell the physician about a tick bite. Also, the individual needs to tell their physician about outdoor activity (camping, hiking, etc.) in tick-infested areas even if the person does not remember a tick bite.

After a tick bite, individuals may develop any of these symptoms that may be due to the organism that the tick transmits during its bite:

• Flu-like symptoms
• Fever
• Numbness
• Rash (these vary according to the pathogen transmitted by the tick)
• Confusion
• Weakness
• Pain and swelling in the joints
• Palpitations
• Paralysis
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea and vomiting

These symptoms may appear with many different types of tick bites; the symptoms that develop due to the different organisms are included in this list, but readers are advised to use the links provided in this article for more information about specific conditions. This will allow the reader to obtain a more definitive set of symptoms for each different pathogen passed into the host by ticks. For example, Figure 4 shows the "bull's eye" rash seen in patients who develop Lyme disease.

Figure 4: Picture of characteristic "bull's eye" rash that developed in a patient diagnosed with Lyme disease after a tick bite. SOURCE: CDC/James Gathany

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Insect Bites Stings and bites from insects are common. They often result in redness and swelling in the injured area. Sometimes a sting can cause a life-threatening allergic...learn more >>

Lyme Disease Lyme disease, sometimes referred to as Lyme infection, is a bacterial illness, transmitted to humans by the bite of deer ticks (Ixodes ticks) carrying a bacteri...learn more >>

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